The Dawn of Something New

CHAPTER: 4

Thirty minutes later, Bucky's gloved fist was hovering over the door. Usually, it only took him fifteen minutes to shower and change, but since he was going to someone else's home to have breakfast with them, he spent a good fifteen minutes deciding what to wear and messing with his hair. The Bucky Barnes from the forties was telling him that it was inappropriate to go a girl's home when she was alone, which was a main contributor to his hesitation.

He shook his head, rolled back his shoulders and knocked.

"The door is open."

He pushed the door open and looked around, the home was a perfect mirror image of his, except it was cleaner and more colourful. It had an open kitchen with a kitchen bar and a dining table in the middle with a office coat on the back of a chair. To the right there was a homey looking living room with a brown leather couch and a white blanket draped on its arm. The apartment was filled with colourful furniture and décor. He saw at least 7 plants in the living room alone. He stared curiously at a particularly delicate looking windchime at the kitchen window.

"That one was a gift."

Bucky turned around to see Brooke standing in the kitchen holding a packet of bread with an apron wrapped around her, under it she was wearing a yellow blouse and trousers. She seemed to be wearing a little bit of makeup. She had some black eyeliner around her eyes making her brown eyes shine. Bucky had to admit, she looked very good.

"When it's windy, I like to open the window to hear it. It sounds kind of like running water."

"Gift from who?" He asked stepping further into the apartment after closing the door behind him.

"My friend, Pepper." She paused, frowning "Well, Virginia."

"Pepper Stark?"

She looked at him, surprised. "How did you get there so fast?"

"How do you know her?" he asked avoiding the question.

"From work."

"Where do you work exactly?"

"I work at Stark Industries' Biomedical division. I was the Head of Engineering before....you know. Anyway, that's how we met and then we became very close friends."

Bucky was afraid to ask his next question but Brooke didn't need him to.

"Yes. I was friends with Tony Stark. We worked together plenty of times but we weren't that close. He did always say that if I ever got into legal trouble, he might bail me out of jail." She chuckled "Great man though."

"He was." Bucky replied sincerely. Despite the disastrous events of Siberia, Bucky never blamed Tony Stark for his hatred towards him. But his ultimate sacrifice is what cemented his respect for the man Steve admired so much.

She smiled and said "Do you want to help me with breakfast?"

"Sure, what do you need me to do?"

"Can you cut up those strawberries? You might need to take off your gloves though."

Bucky stared at his gloved hands, not knowing what to say. He had known her for a month and she had never asked about his clothing choices so he had stopped bothering to make up an excuse.

"Or you could get started on the eggs." She amended noticing his hesitation.

"I can't promise that I won't burn them." He warned smiling gratefully. For some reason, Brooke never expected anything from him. She never brought up the subjects that made him uncomfortable or pushed him to talk about his personal life and choices, he was grateful for that.

"We all have to learn somehow." She said chuckling "I already cracked the eggs. You just need to put some on the pan and add a bit of milk and butter. Let it cook for a few seconds before using the spatula to scramble it."

"So do you know any other Avengers?" He asked half-jokingly.

"I met the Black Widow briefly. Of course, at the time she was 'Natalie Rushman'."

"What?"

"She was undercover at Stark Industries, posing as Pepper's assistant." She said waving her hand dismissively.

"Huh. Anyone else?" he said quite seriously now.

"Oh! I worked with Bruce Banner once. That man is a genius. Don't get me wrong, Tony is brilliant but he is not very knowledgeable with biology. Bruce certainly has a gift in both."

Bucky noted that Brooke referred to Tony Stark in the present tense but decided against pointing it out.

"You remember I told you I was out of town visiting a friend? I had gone to visit Pepper and that cute kid." She said fondly.

"How are they?" Bucky was praying that his voice didn't give anything away.

"Fine. Pepper is a strong woman and a fighter. Morgan somehow understood that her father isn't coming back. But she's young, she'll adjust." She finished; her voice tight. Bucky turned around to see the sad expression on her face. He wracked his brain for something comforting to say when she turned around and burst into laughter. Confused he looked down and had to fight back his own laughter.

Bucky had to tried his best to follow her instructions, but he had somehow gotten the eggs stuck on the spatula. He waved the spatula round, trying to get it off prompting Brooke throw her head back and laughed freely, the sound making Bucky happier than he thought possible.

"You set me up to fail." He accusingly, trying and failing to sound serious.

"In hindsight, I should have started you off with toast." She admitted giggling. "Come on. Let me show you." She set the knife down and took the spatula from him before scrapping the eggs off using a spoon.

"I wonder what would have happened if you helped me make pancakes." She said still snickering.

"I do. Last week I looked up a pancake recipe online and somehow got batter on the celling." He laughed.

"No way!" she exclaimed before bursting into another fit of laughter.

He didn't remember much from his past, but he remembered taking girls out to dance. Spinning around the wooden floor with a beautiful woman in his arms, laughing and talking. They were doing that now. Moving across the tiled floor in perfect harmony, talking, laughing and enjoying their time together.

As a general rule, he avoided thinking about his past as it reminded him of everything he lost and couldn't have. But at that moment, he couldn't help thinking that maybe he was wrong. He might not get everything he dreamed of but maybe, just maybe he could have a good life.

Right before he left, Brooke stopped him and said,

"There is a wonderful family-owned breakfast café 2 blocks from here. You should check it out."

And that's were Bucky met her.